Hobby Lobby Clearance Sale Stash

Hobby Lobby has apparently been having a clearance sale for a while but my local (relatively speaking) store never had any cross stitch clearance items.

Until yesterday!  I finally got me some :D

I freely admit the last two are my favorites!

I have a pretty strict starting plan for this year, so none of these are up too soon - but I may have to rearrange things for that owl.  We'll see.

Talk to ya later!

Tama

Hobby Lobby Sale!

Hey all! I know I didn't do a post last month like I said I would - sorry about that! I'll have one up on the 18th or thereabouts, though. I have TWO finishes to show you ☺

In the meantime, didya know Hobby Lobby has a huge amount of kits on clearance? You should go if you can!

Behold - my haul!

 

 

 

 

Like I needed more kits, right?  But I did not care at all.  I took a jar of change I had been saving and swapped it for a $50 bill, and told myself I would not go over that.  Spent $50.09, so I lied.  Ha!

Back on the 18th with my progress for YOW!

Tama

A Report on Little Projects

This post will include finishes, a start, an old WIP, stash, and the bunny story!

First off - I finished 'The Great Light' on 7-17-15:

It came out really pretty!  I did do the tiny french knots in the scripture reference in the wrong holes - they were supposed to be in the middle of the squares.  I fixed it, but the holes they were in are kinda big now.  Usually washing will fix that, though, and this one is gonna need a bath since it went to work with me :D  The only thing I really don't like about it is that the cross on the steeple is off center.  That's the way it's charted, but I may redo it.

That makes 4 out of 7 of Bucilla's 'Christmas Promises' kits done.  Here are the three I have left in my stash:

'Emmanuel', 'Guardian Angels', and 'Peace'.  I will probably do either 'Emmanuel' or 'Guardian Angels' next, since they are similar, and then work 'Peace' in between them.  I won't be starting one yet, though.  I pulled out a Crazy January start - I think from 2013! - to work on next.  It is 'Three Kings' from the 1988 Gloria and Pat freebie pattern leaflet.

I only have the head of the King in green done so far.

And now for a Bunny Story!  I said in an earlier post that the Bunnies were another CJ start, and I had gotten this far:

Originally, I had intended to do just two bunnies, a pinky-white one and a brown one, and give them to my sister, who is a rabbit lover.

Then, this Easter, I made these cakes - remember?

One went to my oldest nephew, whose family was staying with my Mum and Dad.  Everybody ate some of it, but when they got up the next day and looked for the rest - the cake was there, and the candy was there, but the bunny peeps were mysteriously gone.

I also had about thirty bunny peeps left over, and my sister, who doesn't like carrot cake, had asked that I save them for her.  She loves peeps!

Well, they also mysteriously vanished.  Turns out, my Mum has discovered that SHE loves peeps, too.  This is the first year she ever ate any.  The ones at my house had gotten a tiny bit stale, and she says she likes them even better that way.

Weird mother - and this is a lady who will take the food off her own plate to give to someone who wants it - but she was absolutely, 100% unapologetic about eating all the peeps!

So here's how I finished up the bunnies, and the trim I bought for making them into a cushion, a cube, or a flatfold - haven't decided which:

And they will be presented to my Mum on her birthday :D  She will LOVE this and laugh like a lunatic!

Lastly, a start.  I have three nephews - 12, 6, and 2 - and they all are obsessed with Lego!  So I bought this alphabet on etsy:

And I have started the first of three names to be stitched in Lego blocks :D  There is a truckload of backstitch in these and I will be doing it as I go along :D  I'm stitching it on white 18 count.

So, two 'purse' projects done and two more to take their place.  Yay!

And now, I go back to my regular rotation, because I don't have any double shifts for at least the next two weeks (I hope).

Stashy Saturday - China Kits

When it comes to stash, I've never yet done anything by half-measures.  So be warned, there are a lot of pictures in this post!

I have showed you guys my first kit, the one I started.  It is called 'Sunset Birds' in the website title, which I forgot to mention before.  I bought it on AliExpress.com and it took about 3 1/2 weeks to arrive.

It is a partial-stitch kit, with the printed background.  It's called a 3D kit and it is four feet long.

This is the next one I bought.  It is 'full embroidery', as they put it.  That means every bit is stitched.  It is called 'Gold Fortune' in the website title and I got it on Aliexpress, too.

It is 3 feet and 9 inches long.  Sorry about the glare!  I didn't take it out of the package for a pic - it is one of the ones with completely different colored symbols to the floss you use and looks like an acid trip, lol!!!

This one is also called a 3D kit, but all that is not stitched is the small areas of plain white background.  It is called 'Lucky Fish' and I bought it on eBay.  It took two weeks to get here.

It is also four feet long.  The pattern is 14 pages, the same size as a HAED page, and most of them fully stitched :D :D :D  Three of them are a little over half.

And this one is also from eBay; it is called 'Magnolia' and is pretty small.  It is a 3D kit with the printed background and I just wanted to see what size the cheap, cheap kits were.  I paid $3 for it.

It's going to be pretty pixelated but I'll prolly stitch it, anyway :D  That's a full-size magazine laying next to it, to give a size idea.

From ebay - this one is for my mother.  'Sunflowers' and it is in three pieces.  Called a 3D, again, but only the white blank space is not stitched.  It comes with all three pictures and each one is about 18" square. 

And here's what I mean by 'acid trip'.

From Aliexpress, 'Love Forever'.  Also for my Mum.  Another 3D kit - the green and the words are printed on.  This one is going to be gorgeous!  That's a picture of a stitched piece on the front, not a CG picture.

Here it is with the same full-size magazine next to it for size reference.

(Here's an issue I have created for myself - I showed these to my Mum and told her to pick which one would be her Christmas present, and she informed me that she saw no reason why both of them shouldn't be her Christmas present. O__O  I hope these really are as fast as they say!)

And then one more - this one is my pride and joy and my moment of complete insanity.

It is called 'Ancient Beauty'.

Can you see the stitch count?  It's not a typo.  960x400.  On 11 count, that's 7.5 by 3.  As in, 7.5 feet by 3 feet.  It's huge.  It's like doing a HAED on 11 count, except there is backstitching in this.

Here's the pattern bit that shows the pages.

52 pages.  Only eight of them are less than half stitched.  I can't start this one for a while, it's too big to handle.  My father is going to build me a floor stand out of PVC pipe that I can use my q-snap grips on.  I don't even want to think what this would cost if I wanted to frame it.  It will probably never be framed.  I might edge it and use it for a show-off piece across the bottom of a king-size bed.  MAYBE.  I don't know.

Lest you think I spent a fortune on these - the Ancient Beauty was the most expensive at $30.  You can't even buy a piece of 11 count that size for $30!!!  All the others were much cheaper than that, and most had free shipping.

So that's my China kit stash and I'm trying not to buy any more, but there are some beautiful things out there!  I'm eyeing a huge one of tigers right now and telling myself no no no no no!

Stashy Saturday

It feels sooooooooooo weird not to post a letter!

Here's a bit of stash that I've fallen in love with recently - I always wanted to get a needle minder just to try them out but I kept putting it off - they were pretty, but I didn't think they'd make that much of a difference.

Then I saw this one on sale and thought 'why not'?  Because that was one of the books I liked that they made us read in school.

Well, I found out that I love a needle minder!  So handy!!!  And since I adore books and reading, I decided that I needed a couple more, so I wouldn't have to transfer this one from project to project.

I used the craft portion of my last payday for these:

So cute!  My camera focused on the printed background instead of the books; they are not that fuzzy! I'm hoping the seller (PinoyStitch, on etsy) will do an Agatha Christie title.  She does have a poll where you can vote for the next book you'd like to see, and she added Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express for me.  So I will be keeping my fingers crossed!  She's got a lot of other titles I want, too, but I found a seller on Facebook that will do round button-style ones to order, so I'm saving back now to get one with Spike on it XD XD XD

I also bought this needle holder from her:

I may get another of those, too, as I've lost this one three times and counting...  I had to borrow the picture from her shop.

L is for Lorne

UPDATED!

L is for Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, aka Lorne!

Here's a change of pace from the 'pretty' actors and actresses!  Lorne is very amusing and very interesting-looking, but I'm not sure I'd call him 'pretty'!  Here's a LINK to read all about him - he's a pretty major character on 'Angel' (I don't think he interacted with many of the 'Buffy' characters beyond the main ones that were on 'Angel')

Lorne is played by Andy Hallett, and here he is in full makeup :D

The music notes work perfectly for Lorne; he has adjusted his species hunting instinct to be able to read auras, and he can do it best when the person is singing - so when he came to this dimension, he opened a karaoke bar :D

He read Angel's aura and Angel sang Barry Manilow.  The rest of the cast never let him forget XD.  I don't think Spike was there at the time; he would have been the worst at never letting him forget, lol!  Spike is so much my favorite!

I got a new fabric marker in - I've never tried this brand before.  It's supposed to fade in a day or two or erase.  We'll see.

Stashy Saturday

Today's stash is all Heaven and Earth Designs!

This is my layaway besides what I've already shown, and two smaller orders that I also bought when they were 50% off, AND a couple that were gifts.  Since there will be so many pictures, I'm not going to show the stitch previews like I usually do.  But I did check carefully - sometimes HAEDs are awesome, sometimes they are so patchy and strange looking that I wince.

Both of these are named 'Once Upon a Time'

By Aimee Stewart:

By Bob Byerley:

That one is so very beautiful but it is a monster when you look at the size! And it takes forty-five skeins of black!!! The pattern is ninety pages! Anyone up for a SAL?  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

QS Charming Misty:

Brontosaurus Civitus:

Golden Rose:

Turandot - this one was OOP and when I saw it re-released, I snatched it!  I've seen it worked up and it's unbelievable how perfect it looks!  Click on the name to go to it's product page and watch the video of the work in progress - amazing!!!

Anastasia - okay, I lied!  For this one, I have to show the stitch preview.  Have to.

Pattern Artwork:

Stitch Preview:

My eyes bugged out when I saw that one XD


Spirit of the Wild:

Maxine (had to get one Hannah Lynn in there!)

Daughters of Eve:

The Awakening of Psyche:

Blossom:

QS Peacock Allure:


























The Sneaker:

Tea and Roses:

These last two are the only ones I bought at full price - Nene Thomas patterns were retired and there was one last chance to get them so I had to grab fast!


Dragon Witch Destiny:

Lord of Snows:

Unlike 'The Mage' and 'The Druid', which I bought a year or two ago and was really disappointed when their size was different, these two are the same size and will look awesome facing each other in ten thousand years when I get them done :D :D :D

Of course I want to start every one of these right now, but they haven't even reached the list of the next ones that I'm kitting up.  I really need to stop buying HAEDs.  I really do.  I should.

I'm not going to, but I really, really should.